-I will definitely give some thought to Richmond. Any suggestions on nice suburban neighborhoods with good schools, etc? Or neighborhoods to avoid?
Schools around Richmond are great. Really cannot go wrong. Even within the city the elementary schools (varies) are pretty good. As for neighborhoods that all depends on where you want to work. If you get a job downtown, I'd suggest looking at Manchester or the Fan, or carytown. Manchester is just on the otherside of the river, is "up incoming" early with it's flip but comes with a perception (maybe rightfully so) of higher crime. Access to parks is plentiful as you are connected to the james river park system which has trails to connect various parks and places to launch a boat. The fan is trendy shopping, VCU, good bar scene. Carytown has lots of shops, places to eat and is close to Byrd park and Maymont. (Turn of the century Victorian mansion which was given to the city upon the owners deaths, has a zoo on property, some amazing gardens and is overall a great place to walk.)
If you work out in the west end, it's cookie cutter could be in Anytown, USA. Big Mall (Short Pump) with a bunch of Fancypants shopping places. Big homes on postage lots. Schools are great and housing (while expensive for the area) is still affordable compared to DC. I'd say they run about $134 per square foot for house costs.
I live in Midlothian and work just on the other side of the river. My neighborhood is connected to three others via a trail system which is connected to a park. The park is the site of the first coal mines in America. Pretty cool ruins are there and they have built a recreation of one of the elevators to bring miners up and down. Houses in Midlothian generally run about $114/sq. ft.
What I love about Richmond is you get a city full of history, (Revolutionary war, Civil war, overall just founding of this country type history) and no matter where you live your about 15 - 20 minutes away from anything. City has an abundance of interstate style roads to move you from one spot to another. I commute 10 miles a day and it takes me 14 minutes. Richmond also has a thriving foodie, hipster, and active culture. Monument Avenue 10k attracts over 30K each year, Runners World has dubbed Richmond "America's friendliest marathon, Xterra holds their East Coast championship in Richmond (http://www.xterraplanet.com/news/dsp_content.cfm?id=3300), in 2015 the UCI Road World Championships are here.
I know I'm droning on but I really love this town. Another cool thing that is in t he works is a Cap to Cap trail. 50 mile bike ride from Richmond to Williamsburg on bike paths the whole way. http://virginiacapitaltrail.org/trail/
Nice article I saw with video and photos of some of the stuff I've talked about.
http://www.gadling.com/2012/01/24/richmond-americas-most-underrated-city/
Fellow Richmonder here and refugee from N. Va where I grew up. I love this town, too. I work downtown and live in Chester, about 15 miles due south of downtown. I taught in Chesterfield County Public Schools for 9 years and between me and Hybrid, who also worked in CCPS, we can school you on which area schools are the strongest. There's an area of Chesterfield County called Bon Air with excellent schools that has a wide variety of housing prices. I was just house hunting on Zillow last night and found this 3 Br/ 3 Ba 1700 sq feet in pre-foreclosure estimated to go at $113k
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11143-Guilford-Rd-North-Chesterfield-VA-23235/12152822_zpid/. Even at market prices, homes in this area can be easily found for under $200k and it's a great location -- close to everything (though not very bikeable).
A more bikeable area (though still not great) is the neighborhood of Raintree in the "Near West End" which also has great schools (Henrico County) also with nice houses and lots of trees for under $200k. Raintree is a wonderful neighborhood full of walking trails and connected to a big county park by bike trail.
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Henrico-County-VA-23238/pmf,pf_pt/67613_rid/37.627046,-77.577424,37.604848,-77.619438_rect/14_zm/ Immediately adjacent to Raintree is Godwin High School,
http://www.greatschools.org/virginia/richmond/901-Mills-E.-Godwin-High-School/ connected to the neighborhood by a series of walking trails through a wide band of woods. The neighborhood is full of families and it is a common sight to see the high school kids walking to school. Godwin is a high-performing school but still diverse and not overly wealthy. (Note: I know so much about this because when my son was in middle school a few years ago, I was hunting for a better school district for him and after extensive research, Godwin was my choice. Then my son was accepted into a magnet program and we didn't have to move).
If kids/ schools matter less or not at all, then the Old Manchester, Maymont, Byrd Park, Forest Hill, Woodland Heights, Carytown, the Museum District or Church Hill neighborhoods (in the city) are awesome places to live -- very bikeable and walkable. Byrd Park and Maymont are gems.
Richmond has a funky vibe to it, too, if you know where to look. Va Commonwealth University dominates the city and is renowned for its art and music schools. For 10 years now, our Downtown core has been experiencing a steady revival -- even through the downturn -- with lofts, restaurants, craft breweries, and "gastro pubs" part of the scene.
Last night I toured Rocketts Landing as part of a work-networking event and saw the newest soon-to-arrive restaurant -- in the cliffs of the James River, the Yuengling Brothers opened a brewery right after the Civil War and stored their beer in a series of four stone caves. The caves are slated for restoration and operation as a brewpub, restaurant, and biergarten overlooking the James. It should be open by end of 2014.
The James River is an amazing asset -- people routinely swim, paddleboard, white water raft, and kayak; hiking trails along the river are numerous and part of an elaborate public park system. Open air festivals are too numerous to mention. You might want to visit Richmond for this one coming up the weekend of Oct. 11-13.
http://www.richmondfolkfestival.org/In many ways, our regional economy is recession-proof. We never ballooned as high as other markets in the mid-2000's but then our dip was no where near as low. I think RVA's unemployment stayed under 8% throughout the recession.
Richmond is hosting the 2015 UCI World Road Racing (Bike) championship races and biking has become a hot topic of discussion. The city is pushing hard to become more bikeable. I'm a bike commuter and very supportive of city efforts. The city is planning to study turning Floyd Ave into an east-west bike highway, dedicated to bikes. I'm hopeful it happens.
Finally, there is a small but mighty Mustachian community here! Hybrid, Rust, Recon, me, and a few others who don't post are slowly getting to know one another. C'mon down and visit! We'll show you around.